Personal Learning Environments: Student Processes and Decisions

We in educational technology are often accused of focusing too much attention on technology and tools rather than cognitive processes. I've struggled with this myself, most often because I enjoy assessing the learning potential of new technologies. John Seeley Brown might call this tinkering. I get a charge out of playing with the tools myself and presenting them to my students to see what happens. As a teacher, I'm all about what is practical in the classroom (even if I sometimes try to push the limits of innovation). My evolution from teacher to researcher has been a long journey. All those prior years of classroom experience influence my perspective. I "know" something works with students because I feel it in my gut. There is never time to sit back and observe what happens before moving on to the next challenge.

Focused research on student construction of personal learning environments has given me the opportunity to sit back and watch learning from a process perspective. What processes do students go through when constructing personal learning environments?

(Click on the diagram to enlarge.)
The model above reflects the research findings. If you compare this version to the older Networked Student diagram, you see the shift from tools to processes.

As with a flowchart, the rectangles represent processes. The diamonds represent decisions. The student (or the student in collaboration with the teacher) decides which tools to use to support the learning processes.

Some processes in the diagram are not supported by tools, especially in the areas of learning and practicing digital literacy and responsibility. If we truly wish to empower learners and provide our students with the skills necessary to become independent networked learners, then direct instruction is critical and necessary in all five categories. I view the holes in this diagram as the teachable moments, as verification that teachers can be the facilitators of personal learning. Through direct instruction, we can teach our children how to fish, then step back and learn as much from them as they learn from us.

To ponder:

• What do you think about the relationship between direct instruction and personal learning?
• Do you see areas on the diagram that require teacher intervention?
• How many of our secondary and post secondary students are equipped to construct effective personal learning environments?
• What would you add to this diagram?

Meet one of the students who participated in this research project.

The Networked Student from a Process Perspective

I've been working on The Networked Student Model from a process perspective. Having identified the processes students go through when constructing personal learning environments, I thought it would be interesting to see how the original model fit within the processes.

Here is the original.



Look what happens when we regroup and distribute the organizational tools and contacts amongst the processes. There are some definite holes.


This was a good exercise for me for three reasons.

1. I realize the power of research, why it is important, and how detailed qualitative analysis can yield valuable insight beyond the experience gained merely in practice.
   
2. In order to create a model that is practical for classroom use, I need to move beyond the organizational tools and include processes such as digital literacy, digital responsibility, synthesis, and creation.
3. The development of API widgets for web applications such as NetVibes, iGoogle, PageFlakes, and Symbaloo provide organizational possibilities that offer powerful means for organizing content. This should also be incorporated in the model.
   

Next step: Revise the model to reflect the process perspective. (More to come.)

Welcome to my PLE!

I've been working with a teacher to implement networked learning in his classroom. As you can see from my previous post, we had our challenges. However, we're working through most of the technical issues and I'm proud to present "Welcome to My PLE". One of the students in the project offered her personal learning network as an example. Enjoy the tour!!!



We would love your feedback.

Construction of Personal Learning Environments is Messy

My goal was to keep a running journal of my dissertation research on the blog. I suppose I could cut and paste my field notes, but that wouldn't be very reflective. Time is definitely the enemy. This doesn't amount to a deep reflection, but I feel inspired to share. I'm learning as much as the 7th graders about student construction of personal learning environments. The project has gone quite well in spite of numerous challenges and technical difficulties. I owe this to an unbelievably gifted and flexible classroom teacher in addition to 24 "normal" 7th graders who surprise me every day. Here's a short list of our many hurdles.

• As the project began, the school network was locked down like Fort Knox.
• The computers go into deep freeze when dormant for 10 minutes.
• Deep freeze does not allow for new applications to be permanently downloaded. The process to fix this requires shutting down, turning off deep freeze, rebooting.
  
• Most Web apps require users be over 13. Students turn 13 in 7th grade.
  
• This is not a laptop school, but we managed to gather up 24 laptops - just enough. Three have gone down since the project began so some students are working on desktops in nearby rooms.
• We were using NoteFish as a web-clipper and note taking program. We upgraded to the latest version of FireFox. Guess what? Not compatible with NoteFish.
• 7th graders can be notoriously disorganized. This can be a problem when you're trying to manage numerous online accounts and passwords.
• Occasionally, key Web apps go down. The probability of this is positively correlated with the importance of the activity.
• Today as I arrived on campus, the power went out. No power, no network. At the same time 7 visitors arrived from a community leadership group made up of local business people who came to observe the class.

You would think from this list that every day was a new disaster. However, neither I nor the participating teacher see it that way. In fact, every day is a new science experiment, a new adventure, a new learning opportunity. The students are all engaged in their own unique ways... for the entire hour and 40 minute block. On the one hand, they've had to learn a whole new way of work riddled with frustrations and unknowns. On the other hand, they've embraced it with a vengeance. They work together to solve technical problems, dig deep to find answers, and share with classic 7th grade enthusiasm.

Happily, the power came back on within a few minutes. The students accessed the agenda on the teacher's blog from their Symbaloo account and plowed right to work on their individual scientific inquiries. The adults in the room were mesmerized. I didn't let on, but I was also mesmerized and smiling inside with pride for the kids. I have no regrets about the technical difficulties. There is always a work around. Sometimes the kids are the ones who figure out the best alternative plan. My only regret is that more students are not empowered to learn this way.

Welcome Guest Blogger Jennifer Roland!

The Best of L&L Giveaway
First, I’d like to thank Wendy for hosting me on my blog tour.
Wendy is one of the authors included in The Best of L&L, which is a collection of the best articles printed in ISTE’s flagship periodical Learning & Leading with Technology from 2003 through 2008. In addition to the articles, I talk a little about why I chose each, and many of the authors provide updates to place their ideas in a current context.

Her piece, “Kids Galore Helping Kids in Darfur,” was an amazing example of student-directed learning that had a huge effect on awareness of the human rights issues in the Darfur region of Sudan.

If you’d like to read her article and get a taste of the types of articles and commentary included in the book, you can read an excerpt on the ISTE website.

What about you. How have you used student interests to guide your learning choices?
Have you allowed students to design their own learning experiences?
How do you manage such an endeavor if students can’t agree on topics or the types of activities?

Answer one of these questions, ask a question of your own, or respond to Wendy’s thoughts to be entered into the random drawing to win a copy of the book.

About Jennifer Roland
Jennifer is a writer living in the Portland, Oregon, area. She holds bachelor's degrees in magazine journalism and political science from the University of Oregon. Her education also focused on history, economics, linguistics, and educational policy and management. Before embarking on her freelance career, she was a staff member at ISTE. Follow Jennifer on her blog tour at http://edtechjen.com; each tour stop includes a chance to win a copy of The Best of L&L.

Bringing Service Learning Back into Focus

It's so interesting how certain projects take on a life of their own and events sometimes converge to confirm that you're on the right track. Such is the case with the Kids Galore Helping Kids in Darfur Project. It's been three years since my third graders cooked up this idea and followed through with their vision of how to make a difference. The following group of third graders helped organize the Many Voices for Darfur 48 hour blog project and contributed to the supporting wiki. This year, I find myself in a position to (hopefully) have some influence over new social studies teachers through a course I'm teaching at UF, EME5432 Integrating Technology in Social Studies. I view service learning as the flagship of authentic learning and hope to share this passion with my students through a number of resources including:

• How to Use Service Learning to Engage Kids (Edutopia)
• Working Together to Make a Difference Ning
  
• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
• SLICE - Service Learning Ideas and Curricular Examples
• Project Ideas from Maryland DOE
• Do Something
  
• Kids Consortium
• Learn and Serve
• Good Character Service Learning Resources
  

Ultimately, I hope the pre-service teachers will embrace service learning and recognize the value it has in their teaching practice.

All these things come back into focus as ISTE's Jennifer Roland stops by my blog on Friday for a guest visit and a chance to win The Best of Learning and Leading with Technology. Welcome Jennifer!

The College of 2020 Today

The Chronicle Research Services recently released a report, "The College of 2020", an overview of some of the demands that students will make for flexibility and technology integration. As I read the executive summary, I realized these are all conveniences available to me at the University of Florida. (BIG caveat: They would not be available in all colleges or departments. At this point, I would expect at least this much from an educational technology program.) Here is the list:

Putting more courses online
Of 26 classes taken as part of my Educational Technology Ed.S and Ph.D programs:
Total face-to-face (4)
Blended (3)
Completely online (19)
Note: This does not include doctoral qualifying and dissertation research credits.
There are now full-time online options for Masters and Ed.S students, as well as an Ed.D cohort that is conducted primarily online. At this time there is not a fully online Ph.D program.

Taking classes at multiple colleges
This took some minor navigation through administrative red tape, however I was able to take the Connectivism Course for 3 credits through the University of Manitoba (because no such course was available at UF) and 8 credits of quantitative research from nearby University of South Florida (because this was required for my degree and not offered at the time I needed it at UF)

Monitoring classes on cell phones
Every single class I took, including F2F had some online presence whether is was Moodle, Blackboard, WebCT, or a simple website. Not only did I monitor these classes on my cell phone, I continue to monitor the classes I teach with it, as well.

Starting courses at multiple times throughout the year
Online education courses at UF are conducted in 8 week mini-mesters. They are offered on a rotating basis six times during the academic year.

Sign up to take classes F2F, then opt to monitor online
This was a little trickier, but not as difficult as you might think. I took qualitative research F2F with a retired professor who returned specifically to teach this class. You might think that he was very traditional, and to some extent he was. His courses were primarily lecture format, but there was good discussion, and significant group work. He integrated technology via PowerPoint in the classroom and online submission of all assignments. I had to be out of town for two of the class sessions, so I approached him about Skyping into the class while I was away. No problem. I was able to participate fully through a classmate's computer, ask questions, and offer my points of view from 2000 miles away. I think it helped that I was already established in the class before asking to do this, but I it was a good experience for both of us.

Office hours, study groups, papers-all online
Group work in the F2F qualitative research course was conducted using a wiki in combination with Google docs. This was initially student-directed by one group. When the others realized the efficiency, everyone was on board.

With the exception of a hand written quantitative (statistics) take-home exam that had to be turned in on the day of the F2F exam in the lab, I cannot remember turning in one paper or assignment in hard copy form. Everything was either submitted to a course management system or emailed directly.

UF is the flagship university in my state. It is nearly two-and-a-half hours away from my home. Nearby USF has an excellent College of Education, but I already earned a Bachelors and Masters from that school. It was in my best interest to obtain my advanced graduate degrees at a different school. This would not have been possible without the flexibility of UF's Ed Tech program. I do not feel that I compromised quality in any part of my graduate experience. In fact, I had a very difficult time transitioning back to the traditional classes. The pace seemed exceedingly slow. We were not able to cover nearly as much content or critical thinking in the F2F format as was possible online. Some of that had to do with instructional design, some with self motivation. Those are topics for further research and discourse. But, I've been very pleased with the education I have received in the program.